Vevo In Talks With Facebook, May Leave YouTube (Report)

Vevo may be taking its music video service to Facebook, with preliminary talks between the companies signalling what may be the beginning of the end for Vevo's current partnership with Google-owned YouTube, according to CNET.

Though Vevo and YouTube still have a year left on their contract, it would appear that the company is considering charting its future with the social networking site. The move would allow Facebook to stream music videos through Vevo and augment its expanding social music section, which has grown over the past few months due to deals with Spotify and its real-time social listening feature.

Vevo, despite only being in operation for a little over two years, has enjoyed considerable growth, with monthly video views that have reached as high as three quarters of a billion, and is ranked at #2 on comScore's list of top U.S. online video sites behind only YouTube.

The deal with Facebook would presumably mirror Vevo's current one with Google, with the companies sharing advertising revenue. Vevo and Google, through its Google Music service, both have licensing deals with three of the top four labels, neither having come to an agreement with Warner. Vevo recently signed a deal in December with MTV, which has a licensing agreement with Warner, in a move that gave MTV access to the libraries of all four majors.

What may work against Facebook's bid is the profitable pertnership Vevo and Google have established. A Dec. Billboard.biz article on Vevo's success since its December 2009 launch, noted that $100 million had been paid to content owners over two years and that 600 advertisers ranging from American Express to Vitamin Water had signed on. The video platform also has plans to expand its original programming as well as its television, mobile and international presence in 2012.